BASEBALL

BASEBALL; Making Series With Giants Surprises Dunston

By TYLER KEPNER

Published: October 19, 2002

ANAHEIM, Calif., Oct. 18—
Shawon Dunston crinkled his nose and shook his head, as if he were a baby refusing to eat. His team, the San Francisco Giants, in the World Series? Dunston, their oldest player, never expected this.

Other teams, sure. Dunston has been in the major leagues since 1985, and he believed each of his other three playoff teams had a better chance at the World Series. The 1999 Mets, he insists, were the best team he ever played for. These Giants, after all, play in the same division as the defending champions, the Arizona Diamondbacks. There was no way he could get here.

''Randy and Curt, Randy and Curt, Randy and Curt,'' Dunston said at Edison Field today, referring to Arizona's ace pitchers, Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling. ''It starts getting in your head: 'Man, they may be right. It's hard to beat them.' ''

As it turned out, the St. Louis Cardinals took care of Randy and Curt in their division series. With Dunston's help, the Giants took care of St. Louis in the National League Championship Series. His two-out single in the fifth game advanced David Bell into scoring position and set up Kenny Lofton's pennant-winning single.

The 39-year-old Dunston can still remember the 1989 N.L.C.S., when his beloved Cubs -- ''I'm still a Cub,'' he said -- lost in five games to the Giants. In fact, Dunston has played tapes of that series for his 9-year-old son, Shawon Jr.

''He doesn't understand why I'm a bench player,'' said Dunston, who has been a role player for most of the boy's life. ''He sees me as Daddy. He wants me to do everything Barry does and Jeff Kent does. I tell him, 'I used to do that, but only for two or three weeks at a time.' ''

Twenty years ago, Dunston looked like a Hall of Fame player in waiting. He was drafted first in the country by the Cubs after hitting .790 in his senior season at Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn. ''I was Barry Bonds in high school,'' he said.

Now, the first names that appear on Dunston's official résumé in the Giants media guide are John Vander Wal, Dave Hansen and Orlando Merced: pinch hitters. Dunston ranks behind them among active players in pinch-hit home runs, with nine. It is a far cry from his days as an All-Star with the Cubs, but he has made a living as a journeyman.

Since leaving the Cubs to sign with San Francisco in 1996, Dunston has changed teams eight times. He has had two more stints with the Giants and has also played for the Cubs (again), Pittsburgh, Cleveland, St. Louis (twice, including a trip to the 2000 N.L.C.S.) and the Mets. A .231 hitter in 72 games this season, Dunston makes his biggest impact in the clubhouse.

''Shawon is a guy that you enjoy on your team, because he's brutally honest,'' Giants Manager Dusty Baker said. ''He'll tell you what's on his mind. You need those kind of leaders.''

Bell said the leadership aspect was overrated, but he praised Dunston's character on and off the field.

''He's just a great guy,'' Bell said. ''He's honest, for sure, and that's all you can expect from a teammate. And he plays hard when he's in there. I'm really happy for him to get this opportunity. He deserves it.''

Dunston said his teammates joke with him about pitchers he must have faced: Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax. He likes those verbal jabs, Dunston said, because it gives him license to jab back.

Dunston is naturally loud in the clubhouse, but when he broke in with the Cubs, he was 22 and alone. ''Nobody would talk to me,'' he said. ''I found myself talking to myself.'' Rick Sutcliffe told Dunston the 30 minutes before a game should be spent in silence, and Dunston still uses that time to concentrate before a game.

He also stays in touch with other Cubs teammates. After watching Mark Grace play in the World Series last year, he asked Grace what it was like to play at Yankee Stadium. ''I see why you're loud,'' Grace told him. ''They are loud and obnoxious and crazy.''

Dunston had watched Grace on TV in the World Series, rooting for his old teammate. When Grace led off the bottom of the ninth against Mariano Rivera in Game 7, Dunston told his wife, Tracie, that Grace would single and Arizona would rally to win.

''I wish I could pinch-run for him,'' Dunston remembers saying. David Dellucci did, Rivera threw a bunt into center field, and the rest was history.

Now it is Dunston's turn to make history, though he was certain his best chance was with the Mets in 1999.

He still speaks reverentially of that team, of watching Rick Reed pitch Game 4 of the N.L.C.S. and offer to pitch in relief the next day, of noticing how all the regulars never wanted a day off, even when they struggled.

Dunston still seems amazed it was not the Mets who brought him here.

''Everybody wanted to do something and be part of the team,'' Dunston said. ''No one was scared to fail. And that's the best team that I played for, hands down. Hopefully, I'll win a World Series and say it's the Giants.''

Photo: Shawon Dunston, a major leaguer since 1985, was in the N.L.C.S. three other times before reaching the World Series with the Giants. (Associated Press)